Christmas 2015 came out of nowhere – mostly because I’d just gotten back to Oklahoma after being in Ohio for several weeks, but also because the weather just wasn’t saying holiday time to me. Even so, at about 2 pm on Christmas Eve I decided Kel and I just had to have a “special” meal to celebrate the day. And it had to be lasagna.

Now, in my family, lasagna was the traditional Christmas Eve meal and my father made it. It took him days of special shopping to gather just the right ingredients and then a whole day of prep and cooking. The end result was an absolute towering monster of Italian deliciousness. Layers of noodles, slow-simmered meat sauce, spinach, mozzarella, Parm, ricotta, green olives, slices of hard-boiled eggs and spicy Italian sausage baked to browned-on-top perfection. We ate until our stomachs were bursting. And the leftover ‘zagna? – fuggetaboudit! – we couldn’t wait for the next day to get into it. So it was kind of madness (with a touch of hubris) for me to think I could create a decent lasagna at the last minute. But this post isn’t really about that lasagna, delicious as it was.

It’s about soup – and how soup makes meal time a whole hell of a lot of easy. Lasagna soup has all of the rich flavor of the classic bake but because it’s prepared in a pressure cooker, it’s ready to eat in under 30 minutes – and no layering! You can pare down the prep even a bit more by using Field Roast sausage or other plant-based Italian sausage substitute instead of making it. (But really, it’s dead simple, and if you do decide to make your own, you’ll need a cup of Butler Soy Curls.) The ingredient list looks ridiculously long, but there are a lot of herbs and spices in this dish, so don’t be intimidated! Speaking of spices, do not skip the fennelseed and anise seed in this recipe – their flavors are absolutely imperative to getting that classic Oliverio lasagna/sausage flavor.

*You can absolutely make this on your stove-top as well. Just follow the instructions below, simmering the soup until the noodles are tender.

Vegan Lasagna Soup

2016-01-11 14:44:32

Serves 6

All the rich flavors of (labor intensive!) slow-cooked lasagna with a fraction of the hands-on time. Plant-based and oil-free.

Place the soy curls in a glass bowl. Pour enough boiling water over them to cover. (If you want to get extra fancy, add a pinch of black pepper and a splash of red wine.) Let curls sit for about 15 minutes. Drain thoroughly.

Warm a skillet (preferably well-seasoned cast iron) over medium heat. Add the soy curls and then - leave them alone! Let them brown before turning/scraping them up. Add a splash of water, wine, or vegetable broth if they stick. Continue to brown the soy curls until they have lovely crispy edges. Now stir in the garlic and the spices, cooking for about 1 minutes before adding 1/4 of the red wine. Stir and let the wine cook off before adding more. The soy curls will be very fragrant and boast a nice deep red-brown. Continue to cook until you've used up all of the red wine. Then set the "sausage" aside until you need it for the soup.

Prepare the soup

Set the pressure cooker to (low) sauté. Add a splash of water or broth and cook the onion, carrot, and celery until beginning to soften. Don't let the pot dry out - keep adding water or broth as necessary. Add the remaining ingredients and set the cooker to manual pressure (make sure you have the vent set to "sealing") and the time to 10-15 minutes. Once the cooking has finished, let the cooker depressurize naturally.

Open, stir, taste and adjust seasonings. You can either stir in the "sausage" or when serving, sprinkle some on top of each bowl of soup. Further adorn the soup with vegan Parm is you are so inclined.

Notes

Reader feedback reports that this cooks up in about 10 minutes - not the longer amount I originally stated. Let the cooker depressurize "naturally."

Break the lasagna noodles into pretty small pieces - they really expand as they cook.

Love the artichoke hearts and all those spices!
What a great memory from your Dad and did he make as much mess of the kitchen as my Dad always does? So fun how cultures bring their best to American traditions too.
I discovered soy curls this year and am actually getting positive comments on them from hubs
No pressure cooker but your stove top soup sounds perfect. We’ve had soup everyday this week with the snow and I love that this ones a full meal even.

This looks delicious. I’m going to try it this weekend. Thirty minutes seems like a long time to pressure cook. Depending on the size of the cut vegetables, they should cook in less time. Is it the lasagna noodles that need 30 minutes. I have never cooked pasta in my Instant Pot.

Hi Pam – well, I’m a relative newby to pressure cooking so I’ve tended to err on the side of overcooking, but thanks to some great reader feedback like yours, I’ve adjusted the cooking time. Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know!